MLB Hires Three Executives To Local Media Positions

Major League Baseball hired three new staff members to its newly created Local Media department led by media industry executive Billy Chambers, who started on February 1st. With decades of regional sports network experience, Doug Johnson, Greg Pennell, and Kendall Burgess will join MLB in the coming weeks to further bolster MLB’s capabilities in local media production, operations, and distribution.

Doug Johnson will join MLB as Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, Local Media, where he will be responsible for overseeing all games produced locally by MLB. Johnson has 16 years of experience in managing remote and studio productions. A 27-time Emmy Award winner, Johnson joins MLB from AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh where he was responsible for the day-to-day management and long-term planning for more than 250 live events each year.

Greg Pennell will begin at MLB as Senior Vice President, Local Media where he will be responsible for the production operations of all local MLB telecasts. Pennell has spent 15 years working in sports broadcasting in operational & finance roles for the Fox Sports Networks and Bally Sports Regional Networks. Most recently, Pennell oversaw the Bally Sports Regional Networks day-to-day financial operations including the production of over 4,500 professional sporting events per year.

Kendall Burgess will start at the league office as Vice President of Local Media Technical Operations where she will oversee the Technical Operations of the local MLB telecasts. Burgess has over two decades of experience in the sports broadcasting industry. She was Vice President of Technical Operations for Bally Sports working with Production and Engineering to provide direction for the 19 Bally Sports regional networks across the country which produce over 4,500 live sporting events annually.

“These new hires are an important step in our preparation to address the changing landscape of MLB game distribution in light of the increasing challenges and pressure facing regional sports networks,” says Noah Garden, MLB Chief Revenue Officer. “The decades of experience and expertise in game production and operations that Doug, Greg, and Kendall bring to Major League Baseball reinforces our commitment to deliver the highest quality game telecasts to our fans.”